In an astonishing move, Donald Trump – an American President with absolutely no medical training – flanked by his Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Junior – who also has no medical training – announced they were able to reveal a major reason for the prevalence of autism among youngsters in the US, and a possible cure.
“I’ve been waiting for this… for 20 years”, the president told reporters, as he and Kennedy pinned the blame for autism’s origins among infants on acetaminophen, a popular painkiller marketed in the United States under the brand name Tylenol.
According to Trump and Kennedy, a link exists between use of the drug by pregnant women, and the development of autism in some newborns.
Trump, previewing the news on Sunday, had already called it “one of the biggest announcements… medically in the history of the country”.
Kennedy, who launched a probe into rising levels of autism on the day Trump appointed him to helm the Department of Health and Human Services, said “clinical and laboratory studies” suggest a potential association between the drug’s use during pregnancy and developmental disorders.
In fact, those studies have been largely inconclusive.
The most recent scientific review conducted by researchers in Boston and New York, found a possible link between the painkiller and autism, but expressly stressed their findings did not mean that Tylenol definitively causes autism.
Trump was not in the business of presenting nuanced news to the American public on Monday.
Rather, he relished the chance to dole out unsolicited advice.
Twice, during his appearance, he directly warned expectant mothers not to take Tylenol or any other form of acetaminophen, which is sold in the UK as paracetamol.
“There is no downside in not taking it”, the president insisted, saying that women should be willing to bear extreme pain rather than taking the drug.
“Fight like hell not to take it”, the president advised pregnant women.
“Don’t take Tylenol if you’re pregnant, and don’t give Tylenol to your child when he’s born”, the president instructed.
It was the first time he has proffered medical advice from behind the White House podium since his efforts to amplify and promote entirely false claims about anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine during the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Monday he praised the religiously-guided Amish community, falsely claiming they “have no autism”, when in fact research has consistently disproven that myth.
Robert F Kennedy Jr has spent the past 30 years promoting conspiracy theories about autism’s causes. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)Trump described an association with Kennedy on the subject of autism that dated back to an initial meeting more than two decades ago. “We met in my office in New York… I always had very strong feelings about… how it happened and where it came from”, the president said.
“It’s turning out that we understood a lot more than the people who studied it”, he claimed.
Kennedy has spent the past 30 years promoting conspiracy theories about autism’s causes, even suggesting last month that he can diagnose the condition simply by looking at a child.
In his telling, America is suffering from an autism epidemic that is linked to the uptake of vaccines by young parents.
His views were influenced by debunked research published in the UK by Dr Andrew Wakefield, a gastroenterologist who claimed in 1990 that a link existed between the MMR vaccine (mumps, measles and rubella) and autism.
Wakefield’s article was eventually retracted in 2010 and he was struck off the medical register.
Kennedy announced that effective immediately, the Food and Drug Administration will begin the process of altering the label on Tylenol to warn pregnant women not to use it.
The two men also announced that the FDA will soon approve the generic drug leucovorin, a form of Vitamin B, to treat children with autism symptoms. The National Institutes of Health notes that “randomised controlled trials…are limited”, with researchers again noting that while it may ease some autism symptoms in a small number of children, it is not any kind of cure.
Trump’s personal dalliance with medical conspiracy theories is well documented.
In April 2020 he described himself as “totally into that world”, and stunned members of his coronavirus task force by suggesting publicly that they investigate whether disinfectant, taken internally, might “knock [Covid-19] out within a minute”.
As members of his advisory panel looked on in confusion, Trump insisted “it sounds interesting to me”.
“I think we’ve made a lot of strides”, Trump said on Monday, while conceding that the causes of autism are “not 100% understood or known”.
Nevertheless, he felt sufficiently confident to dole out medical advice to Americans that was immediately contested by the scientific community.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a statement affirming their belief that Tylenol remains safe.
Dr Steven Fleischman, the College’s president, called the White House announcement “irresponsible…and confusing”.
A spokeswoman for Kenvue, which makes and markets Tylenol, insisted that “independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism”.
At the White House, even Trump appeared to acknowledge that he might be going a little too far.
“Bobby wants to be very careful with what he says, and he should”, said the president referring to Kennedy.
“But I’m not so careful with what I say”, he conceded.
And with that, Dr Trump, back in his element, continued to dispense advice.
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